Starring: Warwick Davis, Charlie Heath, Shevonne Durkin, Sandy Baron, Adam Biesk, James Lancaster.
Director: Rodman Flender.
I don't remember the last time I watched Leprechaun 2. I probably saw it once...pretty sure this is the one with the girl who would become the titular monsters bride if she sneezed three times or something? Probably the only really interesting thing about any of these films is the general assumption that every single Leprechaun is basically identical. There's no continuity to speak of so there isn't really a reason to believe that he's the same exact dude. But, anyway, there's a movie happening.
A thousand years ago the Leprechaun had a slave and the Leprechaun says that it's Saint Patrick's Day and, as such, he is going to chose a bride. If a young woman sneezes three times and nobody says "Bless you" than she is forced to marry the little shit and the slave goes free. The slave is all on board until he finds out the girl in question is his Daughter. So he says "bless you" and the Leprechaun places a curse on the family line: in a thousand years the Leprechaun will marry his descendant, which really probably shouldn't concern the slave too much since he'll likely be dead by then.
A title card reading "ONE THOUSAND YEARS LATER" made me laugh, I have to admit. Then there is Clint Howard and Kimmy Robertson being suckered by a guy who does a haunted hollywood tour...apparently he's the boyfriend of our pretty blonde lead...whose accent is kind of odd...? Anyway, the tourists apparently are totally willing to wait around for an hour while the kid goes and gets his boss who is enjoying all-day happy hour and is not particularly appealing.
I'm glad they're showing me this kid taking a group of tourists on a crappy haunted hollywood tour. I really feel like that was a good use of screen time, especially when that transitions into a drunken bum sleeping next to a tree on Harry Houdini's property that happens to be the home of the Leprechaun. Because the tree has a sign on it that says "a gift from your friend in Ireland" which...uh...what?
The Leprechaun comes out of the tree with the bums bottle of whiskey and takes a swig. He then spits it out, complaining that it's a bottle of Canadian Whiskey. "The only whiskey is Irish whiskey" The Leprechaun exclaims. No argument here, Leprechaun. Kind of wish I had some of that.
Anyway, our two leads go to the go-kart track (because that's what adults do on dates...but they may not be adults? Later the kid is only able to be released by the police to his legal guardian?) and the girl is delighted when her friend at the track notices that she changed her hair and finds someone to cover his shift so they could hang out...I think we're supposed to be on the side of the boyfriend(which, I mean, a guy has to make a buck so I wouldn't necessarily blame him for still making sure the tour goes on), but the other guy does seem nicer...well, okay, guess not. Ian is being an asshole. Calls her a tease and a stuck up bitch because she won't put out after he took the night off and bought her chili dogs. Classy guy. Glad the Leprechaun is about to kill him. Wait, why did that scene need nudity and porn music? I mean, she has nice breasts I suppose, but...anyway, it's weird.
Warwick Davis being genuinely amused by his own antics tends to help: when he rips off a business man's finger and licks it, shouting "finger licking good" and basically convulsing with his own laughter...it's actually kinda funny. He does it again when our lead opens the door and sees a man hanging there: the Leprechaun thinks this is unbelievably funny, like he literally forgot he put the corpse there.
There's some creepy sexist things happening here: the Leprechaun places a collar on the girl, and immediately seeks out sex and talking about changing her body and face to carry his litter...I mean, he IS the villain so I guess that makes sense but it still is creeping me out in a not-so-fun way. I'm really uncomfortable now.
Apparently the Police (who spontaneously appeared for no reason) think our lead male, Cody, is responsible for killing the douche from earlier and possibly for kidnapping Bridget because they found flowers from him? Not super bright cops. Then Cody reads a bunch of stuff about the Leprechaun's powers and weaknesses (he can be hurt by rot iron)...and he has a gold coin so the Leprechaun is hunting him. There's some mildly amusing dialogue from Morty, Cody's friend.
Oh, movie: now a black man dressed as a leprechaun hanging out chocolate gold coins? At least it's brief. I actually do kind of like the drinking contest scene, though: they had established that the bartender had a "red special rye" bottle (which was soda and seltzer), and so Morty uses it as a decoy, goading the Leprechaun into drinking actual whiskey while he drinks the fake booze. I could have done without all the dwarf actors chanting "one of us" the whole time...but Davis has fun with it. Even the music starts being off kilter as the Leprechaun is drunk. It's actually a pretty good scene.
Morty fell for the oldest trick in the book: had the Leprechaun dead to rights and wishes for the pot of gold without thinking about adding conditions. So the gold gets teleported into Morty's stomach. Then Morty uses his other wishes to basically release the Leprechaun and die. But that's irony for you. Why the Leprechaun didn't just do that forty minutes ago (pretty sure Cody would have given up the gold if he was rotting from the inside out) is beyond me....
"Have you had your iron today?" Ouch, that line was really bad.
I think we're coming up on the climax: Cody has entered the Leprechaun's lair, Bridget is trying to escape, etc. Bridget looks pretty good in her red dress and slippers...even if it's all kind of demeaning. Again, he's the villain so that's a thing but it's still creepy. This finale really is taking it's sweet time, though: fighting skeletons and getting wrapped in brambles which just go away...and Bridget could just pick the lock to remove her magic collar thingy? Seems like that could have happened awhile ago, too.
Cody outsmarts the Leprechaun and the Leprechaun explodes after being stabbed with rot iron which, again, probably could have happened twenty minutes ago, really.
Final Thoughts: Davis has a bunch of energy that is somewhat appealing, and there's one or two good scenes in there. But mostly it's...well, it's not good. Still, you could make an argument that it's a better movie than, say, Boondock Saints.
Final Rating: Two Stars.
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